


WE ARE MAKING A GAME

by FIPindustries



Category: Original Work
Genre: Friendship, Other, Slice of Life, Videogames
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-05
Updated: 2017-12-18
Packaged: 2018-07-12 12:12:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 15,314
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7102873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FIPindustries/pseuds/FIPindustries
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>three friends start making a videogame.<br/>the style of this is rather dry and abrupt, its mostly experimental, im trying to capture the feel of shows such as the office or the thick of it, this kind of hand held, mockumentary slice of life style.</p><p>if you are reading this you'll tell me how well i did</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

It’s a cold, rainy day. In a street corner there is a guy standing, there is noise coming from the transit as well as from the people that walk past and around him. There is a nice coffee shop he would love to go into but can’t yet, instead he is hunched over inside his coat. His frame is thin and his face is gaunt for a 16 year old. He is waiting for someone.

                The someone arrives and she happens to be a gal of his same age, she walks with the confidence of someone who uses expensive clothes daily. They meet and he looks a little surprised.

‘Martin?’ she says.

‘You’re Rebecca, right?’

´yeah, we talked on the phone.’

‘Right, ok, wanna go inside?’

‘Can’t right now, I just wanted to talk to you quickly, I need-well I want a favor, kind of a big one.’

‘…’

‘You remember me, right?’

‘Uhm, sorry, I’m terrible with faces.’

‘Dude, we’ve been going to the same classroom for four years.’

‘Oh…’

‘…’

‘Oh, right’ His face shows a little hesitation. ‘You’re Becky G.’

‘Exactly.’

 ‘I just, I’m wondering why you would be talking to me, don’t you have a really jealous boyfriend or something?’

‘No, what? I don’t have a boyfriend, and I know what you’re thinking, it’s not like that, this is not some “mean girls” deal or anything, I just wanted to propose something, a project’

‘How do I know this doesn’t end with me covered in animal blood at the prom?’

‘Do we really treat you like that? Seriously, I mean, ok, you’re not exactly the most popular guy but-we don’t bully or anything, do we? We don’t-we’re not like that’

‘…’

‘Hey, look at me, have we…has anyone at school been…an asshole? You can tell me, serious question’

‘No, you’re right, I’m just-I watched too many movies, stereotypes and all that, sorry, so what do you want to talk about?’

‘Ok, look, you like…videogames, right? And you know about computers and all that, right? Well, I want your help, I’ve been having this idea, I want to make a videogame and I want to know if you can help me’

                A car honks in the distance, a truck responds.

‘Is this for real?’

‘Yes, I want to make a videogame, I understand they take time and effort but I want to try it’

‘Why?’

‘Just…you know, I’m curious, I want to try it’

‘But…why?’

‘Because I want to, you want to help?’

                There is an awkward laugh, just one.

‘Are you sure? This is something that will take time, we’ll have to coordinate, work together, for months depending on how big you’re planning to aim for, is not something we’ll get done in just one afternoon’

‘I know, I have a lot of free time this year, its fine, we can meet at my house, Friday next week? After school? You know where I live right?’

                He looks at the city around him, this was really happening.

‘Please, I need to go to meet with my sister now, just say yes’

‘Yes, ok, let’s do it’

‘Awesome, thank you’ Quick peck on the cheek ‘gotta go, seeya!’

‘B-bye…’

                A car drives by, splattering drops of murky water close to him, they don’t hit him. He looks at the coffee shop at a loss of what to do next.

* * *

 

                A nice little kitchen where a mother looks at the insides of a fridge, wondering what to cook that night. Her son comes in.

‘Hi mom’

‘Hi son, what do you feel like eating tonight?’

‘Something warm’ He shakes some droplets from his coat.

‘The weather is lousy outside, soup it is then’

‘Mmmh, nice’

‘How did things go downtown?’

                He starts to get things from the drawers to set the table.

‘They went well’ Cutlery and glass clink together.

 

**WE ARE MAKING A GAME**

‘I’m going to be working on a project with a friend’

 

**By Facundo Avila**

‘Oh that’s nice’

‘Yeah, I hope it goes well’

 

 

 

               

 

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

‘My mom thinks you’re my girlfriend’

**Fip Industries presents:**

‘Well you have to correct her’

‘Why?’

‘Because we’re not boyfriend and girlfriend’

**WE ARE MAKING A GAME**

                It’s a nice living room in a house that belongs to people who are well off, the daughter of whom is sitting in said room with her recent acquaintance and classmate. The lightning in the place is nice and the sound is pleasantly absorbed by the cozy furniture. There is two tall glasses filled with mango juice in the table.

‘What does it matter what she thinks?’

‘She might talk with her circle of mom friends and that circle might intersect at some point with my step mom’s mom friends, and I don’t want my step mom thinking I have a boyfriend’

‘Ok, next time I see her I’ll set the record straight’

‘Thank you, now ready to hear my idea for a game?’

‘Shoot’

‘Ok, so you have, like, a character, right? And you can move him but only left and right because you are looking at him from a profile view, and there are obstacles, enemies and such so you have to evade them, sometimes shooting, sometimes jumping, and you have these pedestals to jump on that you can use to…’

‘Platforms’

‘What?’

‘Those are called platforms, you are describing a side scrolling platformer, that’s how…that’s the name for that genre of game, like FPS, RPG, point and click’

‘That’s how it’s called? Ok, sure, so you do that and…well that is what I got for now, what do you think?’

‘I…uhm…well yeah, I think it’s a pretty good starting point, so-ok, look, I didn’t want to ask this because I thought it could be rude but…have you ever played Mario? You know Super Mario Brothers?’

‘No’

‘Ok, how many games have you played?’

‘One’

‘You-you only played one game? VIDEO game, right? Just the one in your whole life?’

‘Yeah, I never really cared much about them until last summer’

‘And what happened last summer?’

‘What does it matter? I want to make a game now, can you help me make what I just described?’

‘Sure but we have some work to do before we start with all that, you have to play some games’

‘What? No, that was the whole point, I want to bring an outsider’s perspective, I don’t want to be influenced by what’s already been done, I want to make something good’

‘I admire that, I really do, but you do that and you’ll end up just re-inventing the wheel, that’s what happens when you want to figure out the principles of how to make something, anything, on your own, there is a reason artists study the history of art, so we don’t have people retreading the same ground over and over, besides its your first project ever, you shouldn’t worry about being too influenced by someone else, copying  someone else’s work can be useful as training wheels’

                She looks at the glasses for a couple of seconds. The silence makes the boy realize there is a clock ticking somewhere in the house.

‘You know what?’

‘Uh, what?’

‘You remind me of something I thought a couple of years ago, I was watching this movie, an old German movie that I wanted to watch because I heard it was a classic, and I’m watching it and thinking “wow this movie looks really cool”, I mean the effects where terrible but it had this aesthetic…it was exaggerated, cartoony, but it was also really simple, all monochromatic-really gothic.               And I think to myself that I wish I could make this movie again with the production values of today, can you imagine? But keeping with the exact same aesthetic, maintaining it all just as grotesque and gothic and stylized’

‘What was the movie?’

‘The cabinet of doctor Caligari, it’s an old movie from the German expressionism era, thing is I was convinced that if I managed to make that movie it would be something unique, you know, I would be the genius who thought of remaking this obscure movie and bring it back to a new audience’

‘I never watched it, sounds cool’

‘Yeah, well, Tim Burton already did it, not specifically a remake but I mean…the aesthetic, it was already done, it was run to the ground, I realized right after I finished watching it that I was not the first to be inspired by the movie, that thing you described about retreading ground, that was exactly what I was doing then, I felt so silly when I realized this, thinking that I was going to be the first or even the hundredth to take influence from German expressionism’

‘Well, there is nothing wrong with that, just because someone else did it before doesn’t mean you can’t do it again, uh…you know what they say about originality’

‘That it’s copyrighted?’

‘Pffff’ Martin laughs, Rebecca grins ‘Yes, exactly’

                They exchange smiles in the couch.

* * *

 

                A television makes sixteen bit noises on a middle class living room, there is paper on the walls as well as portraits, also, gaudy plastic furniture wherein two teens are sitting down. Playing games.

‘Ok so now…now I can turn into a ball, so that means…oh! oh! That means I can crawl into that place I passed before!’

‘Yes, exactly’

‘Man, this was well thought out’

‘That is nothing, wait until you get to run faster, it gets awesome’

                An older woman enters the room through the front door.

‘Hi there son-oh you brought your special friend?’

‘She’s not my “special” friend, mom, she’s just…’

‘I’m just a friend, Rebecca, nice to meet you Miss Walichowsky’

‘Nice to meet you too, I gotta say, this is the first time I ever see my son playing his videogames with a girl, you tell me how special that is’

‘Mom, it’s really not like that we’re just…we’re doing research’

‘Well, I’ll leave you two alone for your research then’

‘Bye Miss Walichowsky”

‘Mom, before you leave, is there any chocolate milk left in the fridge?’

‘No, you can go buy some if you want’

‘I don’t have money’

‘Well, that’s too bad then’

‘Hey check it out! I’m inside a pod, what does that mean?’

**WE ARE MAKING A GAME**

‘That means you get to save your game’

‘Oh nice, good, I was getting a little worried’

‘Don’t worry the game doesn’t get really hard until much later’

**By Facundo Avila**

‘How hard does it get?’

‘Kind of hard, not a lot’

‘Not a lot?’

‘Is more frustrating than hard, you’ll see’

‘Ok’

 

 


	3. Chapter 3

‘So forget the sidescroller idea’

‘Ok’

**Fip Industries presents:**

‘I have a better one’

‘Can’t wait to hear it’

**WE ARE MAKING A GAME**

‘Explosions’

‘Explosions’

                The school library is a quiet place, a small place, with old computers and even older textbooks. But more important than all that, it’s a discrete place, a place where they will not be seen or interrupted after class. 70’s architecture and decoration litter the place almost as much as the dust. A ceiling fan slowly spins, making the lights blink. The most modern thing on that place is a small laptop sitting between the two of them with Microsoft word opened.

‘But I don’t mean like…not Michael Bay explosions, I mean Looney Tunes explosions, the kind of explosions that leave you covered in ashes and with a few hairs burned, I want it to be fun’

‘Ok, unpack that for me’

‘It’s a power that the main character has, she can explode, and she can use that to do all sorts of things, for attack, for defense, for transportation, she can get rid of obstacles, she can destroy her environment if she wants, it’s about playing with it, having fun you know?’

‘I’m-I’m really liking the idea, who’s the protagonist? Where does this all happens?’

‘I didn’t make it that far, I…I didn’t really think of the story at all, mostly I just have this one image, in my head, of a little girl running to a cliff and jumping off the border and then boom, explosion, and she flies up the sky in a cloud of fire and smoke’

‘Ok, that’s…’

‘And she traces a parabolic trajectory up through the air and then she lands on the other side with another boom, see, she uses the explosion to cushion her fall’

‘And the explosions don’t hurt her?’

‘No, of course not, it’s her power, she is a little tougher than the average human’

‘But they do hurt other people’

‘Uh, maybe, I guess, I didn’t really thought of it that way, I don’t want her fighting other humans, that is too…I dunno, gritty is not the word but- I want her fighting monsters’

‘Too grounded?’

‘That’s not the word either, thing is, her explosions are supposed to be powerful, you are supposed to feel their might, but if we have her fighting humans we’ll have to choose between either killing them or badly hurting them and that takes the fun out of it, brings too many real life consequences, I don’t want a kid maiming adults, but the other option is that the explosions just stun her enemies and that cheapens their power’

‘I get it, yeah, let’s go with monsters’

‘But wait, they should be critters, tiny ugly animals, silly goblins, that kind of thing, again, I don’t want a kid fighting against the Xenomorphs’

‘No, I got it, and what do you think about-‘

                A shrill, highly compressed pop song sounds through some cheap speakers and the girl gets her phone to answer the call.

‘Hiya susaaan’

‘…’

‘Naw I’m busy right now, can’t go’

‘…’

‘Yeah, my step-bitch is still mad at me, can you believe it?? Like, what the hell, it was just a stupid car, you have money to buy another one anyway, get out of my face’

‘…’

‘Say hi to the gurlz from me, I miss them, luv u, bye’ the phone is put back to her purse ‘Ok, you were saying?’

‘That…that was a friend of yours?’

‘Susan, she’s a bitch but Aaron likes her and everyone likes Aaron so whatever, doesn’t matter, let’s get back to the game’

‘Uh…well, I was saying, what do you think about setting the game in the jungle? Because you were saying about real life consequences so I guess we don’t want her blowing up buildings or anything so it can’t be on a city and a jungle is a good place to demolish shit and also for blowing up trees and stuff’

‘But won’t it be too difficult to make a whole jungle, all the trees and glass and vines and rocks?’

‘There are tricks for that, don’t worry’

‘I don’t know…a jungle doesn’t have clearly defined limits, I mean, I get why not a city but with a jungle…I get the feeling the player is going to explore and if they explore enough they’ll manage to get out of the jungle’

‘Not if it’s on an island’

‘You want the game to happen on an island?’

‘Not a big one but yes, it’s easy, self-contained, it’s a single object with clearly defined borders and parameters’

‘But it will still have cliffs and mountains right?’

‘Yes, it’ll have cliff and mountains’

‘And buildings, I know what we were talking about blowing up buildings, but these are not buildings on a city so it’s different, these can be like, abandoned buildings on an island, empty old research labs, cabins, that type of thing’

‘Oh! I got an idea, what if those research buildings are the labs she got her powers from? Like the island was a secret government project to create vat grown super soldiers with powers and she is the sole survivor?’

 ‘YES! But she doesn’t remember any of this, so she wakes up in the middle of an island with amnesia, doesn’t know anything about her past and starts exploring the place and…and…’

‘And there are these creatures around that are previous experiments that keep attacking her and she has to defend herself…’

‘And she has to use her powers to blow up trees that are in her way!’

‘And she can blow up doors and walls whenever she can’t get into the buildings!’

‘AND…!’

‘Be quiet students!’ Says the lady in charge of the library from her desk, the youngsters turn their heads and then lower their voices, a little abashed. ‘Or I’ll make you leave the place’

‘Sorry!’

‘Did you write all of that down?’

‘Give me a second…’

                Furious typing takes place.

‘…’

‘There, I think we officially have an idea in our hands’

‘Awesome! High five!’

‘Oh…uh, yeah!’

                A slap of palms was had.

‘Thank you so much for helping me with this Martin, I really appreciate it’

‘Oh well, you know, you’re welcome’

‘I gotta go now, I wasn’t kidding when I was talking about my step-mother’

‘Wait, before you go, do you have an idea for a name?’

**WE ARE MAKING A GAME**

‘I want to call it Maxsplosive, uh, because the name of the girl is Max…’

‘…’

‘…’

‘…’

‘And she, uh, you know, explodes…’

**By Facundo Avila**

‘I love it, it’s perfect’

‘Thank you’

‘See you next week’

‘See ya’

 

 

 

 

 


	4. Chapter 4

_I want my fans to think I’m so punk rock_

_So punk rock and roll!_

**Fip Industries presents**

_And all you hípsters say I’m gay_

_Well I’m not gay at all!_

                Martin answers the call on his cellphone

‘Hello?’

**WE ARE MAKING A GAME**

‘Hi, Martin, i’m Rebecca’

‘Hi Rebecca, how you doing?’

                He is walking down the street, on his way back from the grocery store, the suburban neighborhood surrounds him with its quiet noises and the late evening air.

‘I’m on a bathroom stall at the mall’

‘Ew?’

‘I’m not doing anything I just needed some time away from the skank squad’

                Through the phone he can hear the sound of a flushing toilet.

‘Who?’

‘Susan and her friends, we’re shopping together and I thought of a new idea for the game and I wanted to share it with you’

‘Oh, and what is it?’

‘Ok, listen, what if we add a guide for Max? A voice that works as a tutorial, telling her how to use her powers and how to move through the jungle’

‘But is it just a disembodied voice?’

‘No, see, there are speakers all through the island because the whole thing used to be this giant research complex, and the voice belongs to one of the last surviving scientists who is trapped in some lab and wants Max to go help him’

‘Wait, are you planning to add some actual voice acting into it?’

‘Sure, we can do the voices if we want to, but check this out, when he is teaching her about how to use her powers he can drop some fourth wall jokes, like “hey, you’re supposed to press space to jump” and she asks him what he means and he says that she’ll get it later, stuff like that’

‘Sounds cool, I’ll add it to the document later, what is the name of this character?’

‘I’ll leave that to you’

‘Ok boss, and since you bring the subject, there is something I wanted to talk about’

                He fumbles for a couple of seconds with the grocery bags to get his keys and open his front door.

‘What?’

‘We need an artist’

‘No we don’t, I said I was going to do the art’

‘That won’t cut it, don’t get me wrong, your art is…nice, really nice in fact, but is just not videogame nice’

‘What you mean by that?’

‘I mean that it looks really good on ink and paper but it doesn’t work as videogame graphics’

‘I told you we are not doing pixel crap, I want this thing to have its own distinct look’

‘Sure but right out of the gate I’m telling you we can’t scan your drawings and use them as textures, it will weight a ton and it will end up full of artifacts’

‘Then what is the other option?’

‘Well, can you work with a tablet, Photoshop, illustrator? Can you animate and render? Can you do 3d modeling and VFX? All digital?’

‘No’

‘Hence why we need an artist, don’t get me wrong, you will still get to do all the concept art and the designs, this guy would just translate all that to the computer’

‘Ok, I see your point’

                He walks up to the kitchen and starts putting the groceries on their respective places, his mom greets him from her room.

‘Son? Who are you talking to?’

‘My friend Rebecca, mom!’

‘Say hi to her from me’

‘My mom says hi’

‘Your mom’s cute’

‘She says you’re cute!’

‘Thank you!’

‘She says thanks’

‘You’re such a dork, you know that?’

‘You want me to tell that to my mom too?’

‘No, listen, about the artist, I think I know a guy’

‘A guy?’

‘Yeah, he doesn’t go to our school but I heard he is good and if I remember right he used to be a cool guy, he’ll be up to helping us’

‘I’ll trust your judgement, what’s his name?’

* * *

 

                Jonathan Ortiz opens the door after Rebecca told him to come into her living room. She walks up to him and engulfs the giant body with a tight hug. He is tall and broad, with brown skin and long flocks of hair, dressed in simple, loose clothes.

‘Jonny it’s been years’

‘Becca, holy shit you look so different!’

‘I know, I know, come in, this is Martin, Martin this is Jonathan’

‘Hi’

‘Hi man, how are you?’

‘I’m fine, thank you’

                Martin gets his hand mashed by a stronger hand in a handshake.

‘What you’ve been doing all this time?’ Asks Jonny to Rebecca.

‘Ehm, well, I moved here after the…accident’

‘Oh geez, I heard of that, I’m so sorry’

‘It’s fine, my dad remarried and now I’m studying at the new school here, but what about you?’

‘You know, kept myself busy, I have my own apartment now’

‘Really?

‘And how old are you?’ asks Martin.

‘I’ll be nineteen next summer’

‘Well, let me know when that happens so I can make something for you’ says Becca.

‘And Jonathan…’

‘Call me Jon’

‘Jon, can we see your work? We are working in a Videogame and we, uh, I’d like to see what you can do’

‘Sure, here, let me get this out’

                He pulls from inside a big portfolio what in another time must have been an impressive laptop but now it is scratched and worn down by time as well as covered in a full layer of stickers from many varying backgrounds.

‘I’ll turn it on and you’ll see some of my previous work, I’ve been doing illustrations for some webpages and the covers of a couple books, good money but not reliable, let me tell you…just a couple seconds…and here, check these out’

‘Wow’

‘Nice’

‘Thank you, here are some landscapes…those are scenes from one of the books I told you, it was hard getting the boat right, and these are…uh…well these are some characters I’ve been doing on my own’

‘Jon these are awesome!’

‘Aw geez…, thanks’

‘I really like them…Jon’

‘It’s nothing Martin’

‘And you came up with all these guys yourself?’

‘Yeah, I just…I doodle them in my free time, I dunno why, is not like I’m going to do anything with them, I just come up with a character that I really like and I draw them and then…nothing, I just keep them in my computer’

‘Well they’re great you should do something with them sometime like a comic or something’

‘I guess I will, someday’

‘There is another thing we have to talk about…’

‘What?’

‘Well, uhm…we can’t really pay you right now but…’

‘No no no, guys, don’t worry, I’d love to help you, no need to pay me’

‘You sure? Because you’re really good and you should…’

‘No seriously, this is a hobby for me, I already have a job, I just want to do this on my free time, you’re my friends, come on’

‘Ok’ says Rebecca ‘but still, when we make money of this’ Martin looks at her ‘we are going to split it even, ok?’

**WE ARE MAKING A GAME**

‘Ok, sure’

**By Facundo Avila**

‘I’d love for that to happen’ says Martin ‘but I don’t think we’ll get that far’

 


	5. Chapter 5

 

‘Hey Walichowsky!’

**Fip Industries presents:**

                Walichowsky ignores the calls coming from a group of students bigger and more athletic than him as he walks out the front exit of his school.

**WE ARE MAKING A GAME**

‘Hey we’re talking to you! What? You’re just gonna ignore us?’

‘I don’t want to talk to you’

‘Speak up! What are you saying about us?’

‘Is it true that you’ve been hanging out with Becky G.? You think you’re going to show her your Pokemon cards and she’ll suck your dick or something?’

                He walks down the steps of the building as the group keeps hollering from the nearby water fountain. He starts to sweat.

‘We asked you a question, fuck face, you think Becky is going to suck you dick? You think you’re going to lose your virginity with her? I’m honestly curious, I just want to know, I really just want to know what you think’

‘I’m not trying to do anything with her’

‘Why are you two hanging out, uh? What are you doing together? You should ask her, you know, she sucked my dick, she’s really good at it, really, you should just ask her, go up to her and say “hey Becky, Duncan said you sucked his dick and uhhh I just wanted to know if you could suck mine” you do that and then come back to me and tell me what she said, alright?’

                Martin simply keeps walking, though his knees are shaking slightly, but he walks with purpose, not to his house but to the parking lot.

‘Hello Martin’ says the huge Latino guy he was walking towards, sitting on his bike. The cigarette, the sideburns and his cheekbones make him look older and thus bigger than all the other students combined ‘who are those kids?’

‘Hi Jon, they’re just some douche classmates’

                Martin gets on the bike.

‘Nice boyfr…’ tries to say one of the other guys, but the bike comes to life, deafening everyone around. The two friends ride away in a cloud of smoke.

‘Do they bother you often?’

‘Nha, the bother everyone but they never get off their asses, they just like to bark’

‘You know if you want help dealing with that you just have to ask’

 ‘It’s really not a big deal, they’re easy to ignore’

‘Ok’

‘Thanks for picking me up, by the way’

‘No problem, anything for a friend of Becca’

‘You guys are close I take it’

‘We go way back’

‘How did you met each other?’

‘Childhood friends, we used to be neighbors but then she had to move when her mother died, about four or five years ago, haven’t seen her since’

‘I…I didn’t know her mother died’

‘Guess she doesn’t like to talk about it, she didn’t tell me, I had to find out on my own after she moved’

‘Jeez’

‘Yeah, those things are hard and people deal with it in different ways’

‘And her father remarried apparently? That must have been ugly too’

‘Yeah well I try not to bother other people with their problems, if they want to talk about it they will, otherwise I think is best to give them space’

‘Yes, of course’

                Silence as they run through the streets. They eventually reach their destination.

‘We’re here’

* * *

 

‘I think today we should talk about the engine we’re going to develop the game in’ says Rebecca to her partners on the living room of her house, there are three glasses filled to the brim with mango juice, sitting on the table ‘I think we should go with Unity, now I know what you’re going to say Martin, but I really feel that program has the best balance of versatility and ease of use, I thought for a while to use the source engine after you showed me the Portal games but I don’t think that it’ll be as accessible, at least to me because I have almost no experience with that sort of thing and I want to be as involved in that part of the development as possible, what do you guys think?’

‘…’

‘…’

‘…’

‘I agree’ says Martin finally ‘I was thinking the same thing actually, we should use Unity, I’m not that experienced with these things either, I might have played around a little with Garry’s mod but…no, you’re right, what do you think Jon?’

‘I don’t know about any of this stuff so whatever you decide is fine by me’

‘Ok, so we’re doing Unity then’

‘Yeah, I’ll download it and install it on my computer tonight, we should also make a drive to share files’

‘Good idea, what service do we use, Dropbox, MEGA…?’

‘Let’s use Google drive’ says Jonathan ‘I heard MEGA might not last and I use Gmail for my job so I’m more comfortable with that’

‘Ugh, I was hoping I wouldn’t have to sign my soul to the Google machine’

‘HA! Don’t worry I’ve been using it for months and the brainwashing sessions are not that painful’

‘Geez Jon, from all the people I know, you were the last I thought I’ve seen working for THE MAN’

‘What can I say? I’m a sellout, fuck me for wanting to have food and shelter, right?’

‘And a bitching ride’

‘And a bitching ride, right, actually the bike was the first thing I bought when I started working’

‘How much did it cost?’

‘A lot, I don’t want to say any numbers but it was around the four zeros’

‘Holy shit, what did you have to do for that money?’

‘This publicity thing for a TV network, they asked me to design a logo and make a quick animation of it for the after credits of their shows’

‘Holy shit’

‘As I said, good money but not reliable, is not like these types of job show up every day, I got lucky that time, some guy at the network followed my work online and…’

‘You never said you posted your work online!’

‘And are you popular?’

‘Kind of, not really, you have to understand that being “popular” online doesn’t count for much, it’s all relative, you can be really known in this or that community but not outside of it’

‘It seems like it was good enough to get you a job at a TV network…’

‘And a bitching ride’

‘You really like my bike, eh?’

‘I like riding in it’

‘Mhmmm’ says Jonathan as he takes a sip of the mango juice.

‘Ok, lets get back on track boys, Unity, Google drive, any other tool we’re going to be using?’

‘Blender if you’re planning on making the game 3D’

‘I don’t know…if we go 3D it’s going to be a lot harder but if we go 2D…’

‘…The explosions won’t have the same impact’

‘Not only the explosions, I told you I want Max soaring through the sky, I want the feeling of flying…’

‘We can go 3D if you really want to, sure, it will take more work but…I feel you shouldn’t compromise your vision’

‘What do you think about this Jon? You’ll have to carry most of that weight’

‘Well…look, I know about visuals, and from what you describe, yes, it will be a million times better if we can have a 3D view of the jumps, I mean, I can try and be clever and find the way to make it look awesome in 2D, and who knows, maybe I can come up with something really cool…but let me tell you this, as an artist there is no greater feeling than managing to translate the image I had in my mind 100% faithful to reality, to make your thoughts real…there is nothing like it’

‘Ok, you sold me the idea, we are going 3D’

‘We’re going 3D?’

‘Yeah, were going 3D’

‘Holy shit, we’re going 3D!’

‘Yes’

**WE ARE MAKING A GAME**

‘You realize you can say goodbye to sleeping’

‘Yes, I realize that’

**By Facundo Avila**

‘I can’t wait for it’

 


	6. Chapter 6

‘Ok, I’m seeing the designs here and they look really cool…’

‘But…?’

**Fip Industries presents:**

‘Well, it’s just…could you make her a little more tomboish?’

**WE ARE MAKING A GAME**

                It’s Friday evening and Jonathan is sitting on his former bedroom on his parents’ house, his siblings are running around the guests, making a lot of noise. Their mother is yelling at them to be quiet whilst she cooks food for a family reunion. Rebecca is talking to him through the phone:

‘You know, if it isn’t too much trouble’

‘Of course, Becca you are the one who came up with the character, I’m the artist, you just tell me what you want me to draw’

‘I don’t want to feel too controlling though…’

‘Let me tell you something, that is a mistake that a lot of people make when they hire an artist, they expect the guy to read their minds, they’ll say “just draw something cool” but they are bound to have a personal idea of what “cool” entails and they’ll assume I’m familiar with it, think about it for a second, really examine the mental image that comes to you when you think of Max’

‘Well…ok, I already told you I want magenta and turquoise on her clothes…’

‘Yes, so she contrasts with the greens and browns of the jungle’

‘Yes, also I want her to have a hat, like a baseball hat, but a little more square, like…’

‘I get what you mean’

‘Also the cargo shorts, that was inspired on your part, I love them, keep them’

‘Anything else?’

‘I was thinking…boots, maybe a belt, make her look like she is an adventurer, but don’t go full Indiana jones, ok? She is still a girl, she has a T-shirt, she has pony tails…’

‘Pony tails? Two?’

‘Yes, maybe braces but I’m not sure, and I also…ok I’m really on the fence about this, thing is: i want to give her a backpack…’

‘But she is supposed to be an abandoned experiment left alone on a deserted island…’

‘Exactly, I mean where did she even get all that stuff? Shouldn’t she wake up naked on a broken incubator or something? But the thing is I don’t want her like that, I’m trying to do things on 80’s Saturday cartoon logic and yet I’m afraid that would stretch the suspension of disbelief too much’

‘It’s like I told you…EY MANUELITO, LAURITA, MAMÁ YA LES DIJO QUE DEJEN DE HACER RUIDO, VAYAN AL PATIO A JUGAR!…sorry, those were my sister and brother making noise,  like I told you, if you have a vision you should stick to it, at the end of the day you can always write your way around anything if you’re clever enough, or not, if the game is fun and it looks nice does it really matter how much sense it makes? Look at dragon ball, does Goku’s strength make sense? No, but we love it because he is awesome all the same’

‘You watch Dragon Ball?’

‘When I was a kid, me and my cousins loved it’

‘I never thought you’d be an anime fan’

‘You would be surprised of how popular anime is on the Latino demographics, especially Dragon Ball’

‘I didn’t mean like that’

‘Hey, don’t worry, had I not known you when you were a little girl I would have never thought that someone who looks like you do now would know about Indiana Jones’

‘Yeah well…life takes you places’

‘I can imagine, i-AHÍ VA PAPÁ-sorry, I have to go, the bañacauda is ready’

‘The what?’

‘The dinner, I’m having a family reunion, I got all your indications, I’ll do the drawing, show it to you and if you like it I’ll start modelling, ok?’

‘Ok, have a nice lunch’

‘Thanks, bye’

                Rebecca puts her phone down on her desk where her computer sits, displaying her Facebook page. Someone on the group chat is proposing a night out with drinks, boys and dancing. She writes down a quick answer about how she is still grounded and closes the tab. The car crash was months ago and her step mother is not really angry anymore, but her friends don’t know that.

                She picks up the phone again.

‘Hi dad? It’s me’

‘…’

‘I just wanted to know how things are going there, you’re still coming back for Sunday?’

‘…’

‘Awesome, can’t wait, how’s the job?’

‘…’

‘Man, that sucks and the delegates didn’t say anything?’

‘…’

‘Sucks for them, you always try to warn them but…’

‘…’

‘Really? Does that mean you’ll get to stay here for a while? Because there is a thing I wanted to show you, I was working on it with some fri…’

‘…’

‘Oh…’

‘…’

‘Oh, ok…see you Sunday then’

‘…’

‘I love you too dad, have fun in the capital, bye’

                She sits quietly on her room for a while, her head turns slightly and sees a list Martin left her of some names written on hasty handwriting.

                From downstairs comes the noise of the front door being opened and then closed.

‘Hi Becky, I’m home’

‘Hi Vanessa’ answers Becky to her step mother from her room.

‘You will not believe how the traffic was, it’s unbelievable, I had to put the roof of the car up because I went to the hairdresser and you can imagine what this weather will do to my hair, and staying all that time trapped inside the car made me feel like I was going to asphyxiate, I think James went a little overboard with the hair dye because that was all I could smell for thirty minutes…you want to order pizza today? ’

‘I’m fine, I already ate, I think I’m going to go to sleep’

‘You’re not going out with your friends tonight?’

‘Uh…no, we have plans for tomorrow actually so…you know’

‘Fine, but don’t do that thing you used to do where you would stay all the time locked on your room again, that’s not healthy and I worry about you’

‘I’m not doing that, good night Vanessa’

                She locks her door and walks back to her computer.

**WE ARE MAKING A GAME**

                She starts downloading the names on the list.

**By Facundo Avila**

                She starts playing the games she just downloaded.

 


	7. Chapter 7

                Silence in the room. Typing, someone is drawing.

**Fip Industries presents:**

                Rebecca watches her Friends work in her living room while her hands are idle over her keyboard.

**WE ARE MAKING A GAME**

‘What are you doing there, Martin?’

‘Uh…I’m making a proof of concept of Max’s power’

‘So how’s that work?’

‘I, uh, ok basically I have to make everything within a certain radius of Max to fly away and take damage, the damage part is not that hard but the flying away…is’

‘How so?’

‘Eh, ok, see these objects here? Well when I press the button the have to fly away but the thing is that they all have to fly in a specific direction opposed to where Max is and since I’m not all that familiar with Unity I’m not sure if there is a prefabricated script for handling that, the physics of an explosion’

‘I see…does that have to happen as soon as you press the button?’

‘Well, yes, how else?’

‘Because I think it would be better if it has to build up before actually exploding, I don’t want you to be able to just spam the power, there has to be a limit to it and a recharging time, something you have to account and plan around when playing’

‘Ok, that’s easy, I like the idea, I’ll work on that’

‘Good’

                Rebecca walks back to her couch, Jonathan is drawing in a nearby table.

‘How’s that going Jon?’

‘Good, good, I’m animating Max’s first walking cycle’

‘How many are there?’

‘Around two and one running cycle’

‘Two?’

‘Yes, one for even ground and one for slopes, she is going to be walking on a jungle and that type of terrain is, uh…, uneven’

‘Yes, right, cool’

                She sits down on the couch again, takes a sip of the mango juice and looks at her computer screen. There is the sound of slow typing and pen scratching along with the clock ticking in her living room.

‘If you have any doubts you can just ask me, ok?’

‘Ok’

‘Sure’

                She goes back to playing one of the games she downloaded a week ago.

‘Hey Rebecca, I wanted to know what you think about…are you playing Space chem?’

‘Yes, give me…just a second, this reactor is taking way to many cycles and I think I can make it go a little faster if I just…with this…maybe I can make the waldo…eh…fuck, no, that’s not it, whatever, what did you say?’

‘I just, I wanted to know if you like how the power looks now’

‘Let’s see’

‘…’

‘Yes, yes I like it, I love it, can I see the algorithm?’

‘You want to see the script?’

‘Yeah’

‘Ok, let me just…minimize this and open the script…here, uh sorry, it doesn’t look very clean, I know, I was focusing on making it work, it could be a lot more elegant, and I should probably comment it because next time I open this I’ll have no idea what half of it does…’

                Rebecca looks intensely at the screen for a couple of seconds, finally sighs and leans back.

‘I don’t have any idea what it does either’

‘It takes practice, don’t worry, even expert programmers won’t know what a piece of code made by someone else does at a first glance, you want me to explain it?’

‘I doubt I would get it…’

‘Programming is actually really easy, is like learning a new language, except easier because computers cant actually make abstractions or inferences or anything that normal human languages have, is all about giving instructions with very specific conditions…’

‘Don’t bother, I tried to learn years ago and I couldn’t make heads or tails about it’

‘Well you can make heads and tails of space chem so you’re not that much of a lost cause’

‘Yes but space chem has animations and simple buttons and all of that nice, user friendly interface, is like if I’m not operating with peg-in-a-hole logic for five year olds I’m no good’

‘Does it really bother you that much?’ Said Jonathan, turning away from his models.

‘Well yeah, I want to be more involved in the project, it seems I’m only the idea guy here, you guys are doing the actual work’

                The guys look at each other.

‘I can teach you if you want’ Suggests Martin.

‘You can teach us both’ Adds Jon ‘it could be better if we learn together’

‘Don’t pamper me’

‘We’re not, I’m sure not going to when teaching you, we’re a team, you want to help, you have to learn then’

‘We support each other Becca’

‘Now you guys are getting schmaltzy’

‘Are you…? Are your eyes getting wet?’

‘N-no…’

‘AAAAAAW, group hug!’ says Jon throwing his giant arms around his friends.

‘No wait…!’

‘Jesus fuck Jon, what do you eat?’

‘My ribs, guys, my ribs’

‘Shush, no protests, only love now’

‘Fuck off!’

‘Oh my god…!’

**WE ARE MAKING A GAME**

‘Seriously dude, steroids are bad for your health’

‘You’re a pair of babies’

‘Hey guys, by the way, I also downloaded Hotline Miami, want to check it out?’

‘Yes!’

‘Hell yes’

**By Facundo Avila**

‘Ok, but we can only play for a couple hours before my step mother arrives so…you know, just for a few levels’

‘Yeah, yeah, just a few levels’

 


	8. Chapter 8

‘You know this really weird thing that happened to me the other day?’

**Fip Industries presents:**

‘No, what was it?’

**WE ARE MAKING A GAME**

                Rebecca and Martin are standing in front of an apartment building, the neighborhood could be nicer, and the weather too, but at least there is no rain. There is plenty of graffiti though.

‘I was at Aaron’s house…’

‘Who’s Aaron, I lose track of the school’s aristocracy’

‘I told you about him, he is with Susan, I was at his house, we were waiting for Jessica to come and Aaron and his friend are at the couch playing with his console’

‘What console?’

‘I don’t know, I think it was an X box, so they are playing and they are playing this shooter game, right? and don’t ask me which one, they all look the same, and the thing is that I don’t know why but I ask them if I can play too’

‘And that is like a no-no thing to do…?’

‘Is not orthodox if that’s what you mean’

‘Like…like the unspoken laws of the land…’

‘A tacit agreement, yes, I mean, the girls never touch any of that stuff and the guys don’t expect them to, that whole thing is a…is what the boys do in their man caves and stuff, you know’

‘Oh so you mean is not like an exclusion thing?’

‘Not explicitly, like, I dunno, a brave new world, where people are locked in their hierarchies…’

‘Right but on their own they have no wish to break from them, like the gammas would think who the fuck wants to be an alpha, that is too much work for me’

‘Yeah’

‘So what did they say? A sudden silence fell on the room, where there hushed whispers? Maybe one of the girls fainted?’

‘Ok, no, not quite, at first the guys thought I was joking, the girls didn’t seem to care’

‘Aha’

‘So I insisted and they were like, sure, you know? Let’s see how long she lasts’

‘How long did you last?’

‘I got killed a lot  at first, I wasn’t used to the controllers, but after a few tries I got the hang of it and jesus, you should have seen it, I was taking headshot after headshot, I was a fucking badass, let me tell you’

‘And the guys? What did they say?’

‘They were all over it, they loved it, they were surprised of course, can you imagine?’

‘I know exactly what you mean’

‘Yeah, exactly, we were high fiving, we were yelling, it was fun’

‘Well I’m glad for you’

‘Yes, but what I’m trying to get at is that the weird thing is not all that, the weird thing is that I actually did it, I don’t know what came over me that I started acting like that in front of all of them, like I didn’t even care what they would think’

‘That’s called showing your power level…I’m guessing you never told any of them about our project’

‘No, jesus no, I know I said the guys are not like that, but still…’

‘You don’t want to risk deviating from the group’

‘Exactly’

‘So why are you still with them? Why are you with them to begin with?’

‘It’s…it’s a long story, chips just happened to fall that way’

‘You fell with the wrong crowd?’

‘Something like that’

‘But according to what you’re telling me there doesn’t seem to be a problem’

‘That was an isolated incident, they can deal with it as just an anomaly, they can chalk it up to curiosity and beginner’s luck, if they knew this is a big part of my life…’

‘No, I understand’

                They stand in the sidewalk for a few seconds, looking around.

‘Hey, could you call Jon again? The dude is taking way too long to get here’

‘He said he might be late because of work, you are the one who insisted to come early’

‘Usually I have other things to do on Sundays, don’t want to miss too much time here, I’ll just be a few hours and then I’ll have to go back home’

‘Well i don’t have anything better to do but if Jon don’t show up soon I’ll be leaving to…’

‘There he is!’

                A motorbike gets closer to them and hits the brakes abruptly. Their friend gets down, greets them and leads them to his apartment inside the building next to them.

* * *

 

‘It looks cozy’

                They are inside a tiny apartment, there is not a lot of decoration or even furniture, there is not much space for neither. A giant poster of the mystery men decorates a wall.

‘It’s small, is way too small, I’ve been thinking about getting a roommate somewhere else actually’

‘If you can hold on for a year I might help you with that, but we might have to move to another state, depending on what college I get in’ says Martin.

‘Are you serious? Because I might take you up on that’

‘I’m serious’

‘Ok, I’ll see where I am in a year from now’

‘Wow are you guys going to live together?’

‘I’d be cool with it, I’d rather be with him than some random douchebag I might get by chance’

‘As long as it’s not too far away, say, the other side of the country’

‘I don’t think you should worry about that’

‘Ok, cool, I’ll go make something to drink, what you guys want?’

‘What do you have?’

‘Tea’

‘What else?’

‘Tea’

‘Tea it is then’

‘Me too, unless you don’t have sugar’

‘I have sugar, I also have some news’

                Rebecca and Martin are sitting down, the boy is getting his laptop out of his backpack.

‘What news?’

‘I heard there is going to be some sort of contest, that a game company is going to take submissions for games and the winner will get funds and support from the company to develop it’

‘Holy shit!’

‘What company?’

‘I don’t remember the name, they made that game where you can be like a medic and an engineer and a soldier in the 50’s and you fight with other people?’

‘Team Fortress 2’ answer the two friends at the same time.

‘It must be Valve’

‘Oh my god, this is a HUGE opportunity!’ says Rebecca.

‘I don’t know if we are ready for this, guys’

‘But you already have a demo!’

‘No I don’t, I don’t even have an alpha, I barely have the earliest proof of concept of ONE of the powers’

‘Jon, what are the conditions to get in?’

‘You have to present a PDF, Power point or word document that fully explains the story, rules, and concept art of the game, you have to also present the concept art separately, with design of the characters, environments, color schemes, etc, and you have to present at least an early build of a full level’

‘We don’t have any of that’

‘And what is the time limit to present all of that?’

‘We have a month and a half to do all of that’ says Jon as he comes with the mugs and a bowl of sugar.

‘That is not enough time!’

‘Yes it is! Come on Martin, we can try, if we don’t reach the time limit we would have still accumulated a month and a half of progress, the worst thing that can happen is we don’t get in, we still have the game for ourselves’

‘…’

‘…’

‘…’

‘Ok, but we must hurry then’

‘Yes!’

‘And we’ll have to hurry with your classes as well, you’ll have to learn as you practice’

‘I can do that’

‘Jon, you think you can have the assets ready before a month?’

‘No, but I can try’

‘Ok then, we’ll get into the contest’

‘Awesome!’

‘Tea’s ready!’

**WE ARE MAKING A GAME**

‘Careful, it’s hot’

**By Facundo Avila**

‘This is good tea’

‘Thanks’

 


	9. Chapter 9

‘So we don’t need the whole story’

‘No, we don’t’

**Fip Industries presents:**

‘Good, because i don’t have it, i have a general outline, at most, sorry’

‘That’s ok, all this needs to be is just a demo’

**WE ARE MAKING A GAME**

‘But i say we do include a little bit of story’ Adds Jon ‘if we are selling this to them, we have to hook them with the whole package, you know?’

                The three of them are inside an empty classroom, after hours. Jon is sitting on top of the teacher’s desk, with Martin on the chair behind it. Rebecca is standing, holding a marker in front of the whiteboard. A dozen computers hum around the three of them.

‘Ok, but how much?’

‘How about…?’

‘We should start in media res, with like…the story already in progress, I don’t want to do some cold open or a lame hook, it will make it feel like a trailer, if we cut straight to the meat of the game they’ll get the impression we know what we are doing, like this is just a small portion of a much bigger picture’

‘I don’t follow’

‘Any idiot can make a beginning and make it look interesting, it’s cheap, you start with a guy waking up in a room, someone with a mask comes in, shoots the guy, takes off the mask…it’s the same guy, cut to credits, we’re not doing that shit, if we give them a beginning then it will feel like that is all we did, like we are just making it up as we go along’

‘Isn’t that exactly what we were kind of doing?’

‘Yeah but if we land this then no more, we are going to do this right, ok?’

‘Ok’

‘Ok’

‘Ok, so, plot…uhm…so she is, uh, coming out of an abandoned building right? And then…’

‘How about if we first decide what this scene is going to be about first?’

                They stand silently, Rebecca paces around a little.

‘I think this scene should showcase the relationship between the two characters, Max and…how was the scientist called?’

‘Earl’

‘Max and Earl, the whole game will rest on the interactions between the two of them so we should let them know what is all going to be about’

‘And what happens?’

‘I don’t know, I’m just throwing that out there’

‘Ok, no, wait guys I got it, a mini-game, like the whole game super condensed, you mentioned she is going to have multiple abilities that stem from her basic power of explosions’

‘You’re suggesting we showcase all of what she will be doing during the game?’

‘Yes but we do it smart, we give it a learning curve, we introduce each power individually and at the end we give a challenge where she has to combine all of that’

‘Writing that down’

‘And what are her powers exactly?’

‘First, explosions, she can burn and push away everything within a certain radius, to do that she has to press a button, say A, for a while and the explosion charges, the more she holds A the more potent the explosion will be; power B is heat, if she holds the explosion past a certain limit she starts to emit heat so she can melt steel or rock to make her way through obstacles, she can’t walk when she is in this state’

‘Hold on, I’m typing all of this…’

‘Now both her powers can be used also for transportation, if she jumps and activates an explosion while in midair she is propelled in the air vertically, if she runs and jumps and explodes she goes through the air in a parable, she can also use heat to slide down or climb walls’

‘How does that last one work?’

‘It’s like… she can melt steel so it acts like putty on her hands, she can climb with her hands or let herself be dragged by gravity down the wall, also, say she is in like a tunnel or a shaft, if she explodes inside that the whole thing becomes a cannon and she becomes the bullet and when she is in this state all the enemies she comes across are automatically killed’

‘Ok, got it’

‘By the way, Jon, did you finished the designs for the little monsters she is going to be fighting?’

‘Yep, you asked something in between a lizard and a giant frog right?’

‘Yes’

‘Here it is’

‘…’

‘…’

‘It looks awesome’

‘We still don’t really have a story for the demo’

‘I got it, she is supposed to rescue Earl, right? But first she has to find him, we make her look for a map, she goes into one of the abandoned buildings to go look for a map of the island and there she finds some clues about the super soldier experiments, not all of it, mind you, just some vague clues about old research’

‘Yes, yes, great, where does the scene start then?’

‘A little before the building’

‘But not too much so we don’t have to model a lot’

‘Shit, you’re right, then scratch that, she just starts in the building, and when she comes out we get a cut scene of the jungle, we can make that with some prefabs’

‘You want the jungle to be a reveal then?’

‘Yes, all the player knows at first is that she is in some ruined building and then she comes out, BAM, island, what a twist’

‘Ok’

‘So, starts in abandoned building…’

‘A the top floor’

‘Top floor of an abandoned building…’

‘Final scene is she exploding too hard and falling two floors into the entrance, she is atop a bunch of debris, she opens the doors…’

‘Bam, jungle, Shyamalan creams his pants’

‘Right, also each floor is a different mechanic that is introduced until we have the final challenge’

‘You’ll have to design the layout of those levels’

‘I’ll get to it right now’

‘Ok, I have to finish the basic assets on unity, the physics and such and Jon…’

‘The model of the building, on it’

‘Awesome, we have a month and a half, I’m sure we can make it’

* * *

 

‘We’re fucked’

‘How much time we have left?’

‘A week’

‘Ok, how much we have fully completed and ready to package, how much we have that we only have to do some final touches and how much that is just not going to make it?’

                Deep sighs all around in Rebecca’s room. Jon, from the bed, answers.

‘I have most of the work done…kinda, the textures are not…uh…they’re not working properly and I’m afraid is some problem with the model itself, I’m trying to fix it without having to re-do the whole thing from scratch’

‘The physics are not fully done yet, I’ve been hardcoding some stuff just to get an idea of how it would work but is not the best and…I mean it works, sort of, and we could use it but is not ideal’

‘Fuck it, we’re using it, if by the end of the week you manage to come up with something better we use that but otherwise…’

‘The problem is there is just too much tutorial stuff, we either take from the tutorial or we shorten the final challenge’

‘If we do one we have to do the other, I’m not going to submit something that you can’t figure out how to play’

‘Are you 100% committed to that? Because look, I think the final design you made is genius, is stuff of beauty, we HAVE to include it, but the tutorial parts are dragging the whole thing down, we can sort of expand that final part to include the whole building, make the demo a single big challenge instead of multiple separate sections, Jon, is too much to ask to make the building a few floors shorter?’

‘No, that I can edit easily’

‘But they won’t know what to do! Is like we are throwing someone on dwarf fortress without any explanation, ok, maybe not on the same level as that but you get what I mean…this is fundamentally a puzzle game, a puzzle platformer, and in a puzzle game you are supposed to teach the fucking mechanics!’

‘We don’t have time for that!’

‘Guys, guys, calm down, can’t we do like they would do in old games? that the game would come with a little guide telling you the controls?’

‘Don’t be ridiculous Jon, this is not the 80’s, games shouldn’t need a manual to…’

                Rebecca stops short, her eyes suddenly lost a million miles away.

‘…’

‘…’

‘…unless…actually, wait, I think I have an idea…you’re right, we can make a guide…’

‘You sure?’

‘Yes, Martin, remember that game I showed you, the one you didn’t like?’

‘The…the assembly one?’

‘Yes, TIS-100, remember I showed you it had a manual? And you said it reminded you of another more recent game?’

‘Keep talking and nobody dies or something, yes, I get what you mean, we can do something like that’

‘Something like what?’ Asks Jon.

‘We can make a manual that is not a manual, we make it be a part of the game’s world, like it’s some kind of classified document from the abandoned research labs that explains how the power works…we can make a whole package, we can repurpose assets of the game and make it look like old archives…’

‘We can make a CD, a floppy disk…some burned papers, some black and white Polaroid’

‘We put it all in a box, a crate, hell we can even put an old cassette with recordings of Earl’

‘Yeah, that will sell the feel of the game a lot more!’

‘Ok, new plan, scrap the tutorial parts, reconfigure everything for one single big challenge that has to be figured out, I’ll work on the physical documentation’

‘Ok’

‘Ok’

                The front door down the stairs is opened. A pair of high heels clack on the floor and a nasal voice says.

‘Becky, sweetie, I’m home’

‘Shit’ says Rebecca.

‘Is that your step mom?’

‘Fuck, she doesn’t know about you guys’

‘Are you in your room?’ Continues the woman ‘what are you doing?’

**WE ARE MAKING A GAME**

**By Facundo Avila**

 

 

 

 

 


	10. Chapter 10

‘Hi dad’

‘Honey! I wasn’t expecting your call’

**Fip Industries presents**

‘There is something important i have to tell you’

**WE ARE MAKING A GAME**

‘I hear traffic, where are you?’

‘On a bus, i…I had an argument with Vanessa, a pretty serious one’

‘What for?’

‘Well…she doesn’t approve of what I’ve been doing in my free time, or who I’ve been spending it with’

‘Who you’ve been spending your time with?’

‘With some new friends, some really nice people who’ve been helping me with a project I’m working on! The project I tried to tell you about’

‘And why doesn’t Vanessa approve of them?’

‘Because…they are not…I mean it’s stupid, is just that they are not the kind of people she would hang out with if she was my age, one is a classmate and he is really nice, and really smart, he’s just a little shy, and the other is Jon, you remember Jon’

‘The neighbor kid you had a crush on?’

‘…yes, that one…’

‘And what project you’ve been working on?’

‘We are making a game’

‘That’s it? That’s why you had an argument with Vanessa?’

‘Well…she says that I’m spending too much time locked in my room and that I am no longer hanging out with my other friends and that it’s not healthy’

‘You know she worries about you, and she is in part right, remember how much she helped you when you first met her?’

‘…’

‘You were having panic attacks and you were staying too much time locked in your room then too and she helped you get out more, enjoy yourself, interact with other people…’

‘…’

‘To be honest I was getting a little worried too, after you’ve spent the entire last summer in the hospital, that you would fall back on that’

‘You were worried about that? And not the fact that I fractured my legs after getting drunk at a party and crashing Vanessa’s car?’

‘I’m not happy about that either but…that is a normal thing for teenager to do, sure, that was a mistake on your part but I’m sure you’ve learned your lesson about that’

‘Whatever, this is not like years ago, I am getting out, and I am interacting with people…in fact that is the second thing I wanted to talk to you about’

‘What else?’

‘We won a contest at a gaming company, we…we are getting an internship and I’m traveling to the offices out of town’

‘Wait, hold on, is weekday, you’re skipping school?’

‘Just for a couple of weeks, I’m going to be working in the game at the company offices with my friends, we’re getting pay, accommodations, experience, a chance to shake hands and do some networking’

‘Networking? Experience? I thought this was just a hobby, you’re just going to drop out of school and start working? I don’t think you’ve thought through about this Rebecca’

‘I thought well enough, I had an entire summer at a hospital to think, about a lot of stuff, besides I’m not completely dropping out of school, the guy in charge of the company knows we’re students, he’ll make a note to the principal, I’ll get to add this as extracurricular activities and when I’m done with the project I can go back and resume my studies’

‘Still! You can’t just leave your house and travel on you own to work at some company…!’

‘I’m not alone, I have my friends coming with me!’

‘And what do their parents say?’

‘Martin’s mom approves, she thinks is great her son is getting a job and making his own path in life’

‘I want that for you too but this is not the right way, sweetie, can’t you at least wait till next summer, once you’ve finished school, to do all this?’

‘I got this chance now, I’m taking it’

‘I…I don’t like this and you better believe we’re going to talk more about it, I have to go back to work now…’

‘…’

‘…This is not the way of doing things, you’re still too young to make this kind of decisions on your own…’

‘Bye dad’

‘Bye Rebecca, I love you, you know that, I want the best for you…and I guess I wish you luck’

‘Thanks’

                Rebecca hangs the phone and turns her eyes from the landscape across the window to the insides of the old, crowded bus she’s riding.

‘How did it go?’ Says Martin, sitting next to her.

‘As well as I could expect I guess, he didn’t sound happy about it’

‘That was nice, what you said about us’ Says Jonathan, standing next to Martin.

‘Is the truth, you guys have been great’

‘I didn’t know you spent all summer on the hospital, I heard about the car crash, that was all everyone was talking about but not the fractured legs’

‘It was really boring but it gave me time to figure some stuff out’

‘Was it then when you came up with the idea to make a game?’

‘Kinda, I came up with the idea a week after starting school but yes, that is when I had my first inspiration’

‘Ok’

‘…’

‘…’

‘…’

‘We’re here’

‘Oh geez’

‘Calm down Martin, deep breaths, we won so they liked what we did’

‘Yeah, yeah, deep breaths’

‘Don’t worry about it, I’m with you, dude’ Says Jon.

‘Thanks man’.

* * *

 

                The place is eclectic and playful, with offices scattered here and there where different groups of people work in different kinds of projects. The three friends are being led by a giant man with round glasses who cheerfully explains the layout of the company.

‘There is no hurry, ideally we want the thing to be done soonish but you can go at your leisure, just make sure to make progress, also I want you to remember I’m not your boss, there is no need to come to me for every decision you make, I’m not going to fire you or anything like that if you make a mistake and I’m not going to be breading down you necks, especially considering you guys are still in school, just enjoy yourselves, this is more about you learning than we getting a product at the end…though there has to be a product at the end, ideally a good one, you focus on that, not on time limits or any other kind of pressure, alright?’

‘Yes’

‘Yeah’

‘Yep’

‘Alright, now, here is your space, you guys will be working here, though not strictly, changes might happen, we may need the room for something else, again, you are free to move around, if you find yourselves stuck you can go check out on other groups, see if you can help there, usually helping someone else helps you get inspiration, this is all about synergy, dynamism…speaking of which, you will be having some help, there are a couple of people who aren’t terribly busy right now and decided they’ll be working with you for the time being, come in, I’ll introduce you to them’

                Inside the spacious room there are three people, a tall woman with a long nose and glasses, a strong-fat guy with hams for arms and buck teeth, and a petite brunette who looks particularly androgynous.

‘Guys, these are the students I was talking about’

‘Hi kids!’ says the woman with the glasses ‘I’m Susan, these are Mark and Emille’

‘Suuuup’

‘yo’

                Jonathan is the first to step forward with an extended hand.

‘Hello, I’m Jonathan, these are my friends, Rebecca, she’s the one who came up with the idea for the game, and Martin, he’s been doing the programming’

‘Alright people, I’ll leave you to it, you can figure it out, any doubt my guys will explain it for you’

                The giant man leaves.

‘Ok, let me lay down the rules’ says Mark, crossing the continents that are his arms ‘You’ll do as we say and will shut your mouths while you’re at it, because we are bigger, older, meaner and…and…’

‘Sexier’ adds Emille.

‘Yeah, sexier, and because if you don’t then Susan…’

‘Also known as the fatherfucker…’ says the alleged fatherfucker.

‘…also known as that, yes, will fuck you up’

‘Is this a joke?’

‘Yes, obviously, sorry, just trying to break the ice, so, what was exactly the idea for the game? Mister G didn’t explain a whole lot about it’

‘Uh…you didn’t see the demo we sent?’

‘There was a demo?’

‘Obviously there was a demo, Susan, unless Pepper Anne here is lying, wait, sorry for calling you Pepper Anne, your name was Rebecca, right?’

‘Y-yes’

‘Again, sorry, I do bad jokes, won’t happen again’

‘Was that a joke or just straight up lying?’

‘Shut the fuck up Emille’

‘So! Hey, wow, what about that game, guys?’ asks Susan.

‘I…uh, I have the demo on my laptop, I can show it to you there’ says Jon.

‘Alright, let’s do that before these two go at it again’

                They all group around the computer to see the game. As this happens Rebecca and Martin stay back, a little separated from the rest.

‘What do you think of these guys?’ asks Rebecca.

‘They are…quirky’

‘Yeah that’s…one way to put it’

‘I mean, they don’t seem that bad but, I don’t know, I guess we’ll have to wait and see how it works out’

‘Yeah, we can work it out’

‘Also…Uhm…Rebecca, there is something I have to ask you’ he lowers his voice.

‘What?’

‘Well…I couldn’t help but listen to your call, and your dad mentioned something about you having a crush on Jon? When you were young I mean’

‘Oh yeah, I was infatuated with him but I never told him, it’s uh, I mean I’m not going to say it’s all gone now, there is a lot of unresolved, uh, feelings there, but don’t worry, it’s not like I’m going to let it get in the way of the game or anything, is not that big a deal’

‘Yeah, well…i…I think…I might have some feeling for him as well…’

‘…’

‘Which doesn’t make any sense, I mean, I’m not gay or anything!’

‘…’

‘But it’s like…I just can’t seem to stop thinking about him and stuff…what do you think?’

‘I think…I think we can work that out too…uhm…yeah’

‘Yeah…’

                They look back at their friend and their new coworkers. As they play the demo, the song they choose for the first scene of the game starts playing on Jon’s computer.

_‘Johnny played guitar, Jenny played bass_  
Name of the band is The Human Race  
Everybody tell me, have you heard  
Pop goes the world’

**WE ARE MAKING A GAME**

_‘Jenny played keyboard, Johnny played drums_  
Called Little Baby and a big Bonhomme  
Everybody tell me, have you heard  
Pop goes the world’

‘We need to change the song’

**By Facundo Avila**

 

_‘And it goes something like this…’_

 

 

 

  **END OF PART 1**

 

 

 


	11. Chapter 11

A cell phone rings in a hotel room.

‘Ok, shhh, that must be them’ said the girl.

‘You should ask them why we haven’t heard anything for a week now’ said the boy

‘No, shush, let me handle it, hi! Hello! Who is it?’

‘…’

‘Oh good, I was wondering because…yes?’

‘…’

‘Wait, what? What do you mean…? Ok, no, wait, can I…can I talk with your boss?’

‘…’

‘And when is he going to be free? Because…I’d much rather talk face to face with him, I don’t feel comfortable having this conversation like this…’

‘…’

‘Yeah, well, he has to be free at some point, we can wait….’

‘…’

‘I…that’s…you know, that’s poor management on your part, I must say, you can’t just tell us that our project is cancelled after a week of…’

‘…’

‘Oh, I’m sorry, “postponed” sure, let’s go with tha-can I just say? This is really fucking shitty of you? You have any idea how long we’ve been working on this project?’

‘…’

‘You’re just a secretary? Well, why don’t you grab your fucking notebook..?’

‘Becky, you should tone it down a bit…’

‘Shut up Martin, why don’t you grab your fucking notebook or whatever and make sure to remind your boss that we have a contract? That we were promised we were going to make a…?’

‘…’

‘Oh…oh so the contract didn’t say…? This is bullshit, you know that, we were promised…’

‘…’

‘I’m not done you hear me? You can bet your ASS I’m going there first thing in the morning to demand that…’

‘…’

‘Yes? Well, my fucking work I’ve been doing for months is still there so if you think you can just steal my shit you can…hello? Hello! FUCKERS!’

The girl throws the phone away.

A boy stays quiet for a few seconds until he says.

‘So I gather there’s bad news’

‘No, everything’s fucking peachy, Martin, they just told us that they are going to raise our pay and are about to launch the game at the next E3’

‘Really?’

‘NO!’

‘Sorry, I honestly wasn’t making fun of you, you know sometimes is hard for me to…’

‘Yeah, I know, I know…’

‘So, correct me if I’m wrong, I just want to make sure I got everything, they cancelled the project and they are not letting us back in to get the files?’

‘Yeah, also, we have to leave the hotel tomorrow, they are not paying for it anymore’

‘Figures…’

‘FUCKING ASSHOLES! How can they do this to us? What the fuck? They just fucking string us in with all of their fucking bullshit promises, they act like they are Willy fucking Wonka or some shit…god! They just stabbed us in the back, just like that! I don’t think I felt this cheated even when Brian slept with Veronica, that bitch, but fuck, at least when that happened I knew the kind of assholes I was slumming it with, these guys, they acted like they are the new hip, fucking, Mark Zuckerberg, hot millennial shit and the worst is that we fucking believed them? Like, what the hell? How did we forget these guys are a company, first and foremost? They’re barely even human, they are just this bullshit ass evil capitalist hivemind that all they care is about their fucking money and they chew and shit people like us and FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!!!’

‘…’

‘…’

‘You done?’

‘Fuck you!’

‘Ok, great, now that we got that out of our system…we have to think what our next step is’

‘Oh, I’ll tell you what our next step is, get a bottle, fill it with alcohol, put a rag on the tip, set it on fire and…’

‘Preferably nothing that will end up with us in jail’

‘Fuck, they are the ones who should be in jail, Jesus’

‘We have to call Jon’

‘Oh you do that, I don’t have the heart to tell him…’

‘Ok, I’ll do it, give me a sec’

‘…’

‘…’

‘He’s not picking up’

‘Did he tell you at what time he was coming back here?’

‘No, you know how he is, he comes and goes as he…’

There is a knock on the door.

‘Did Jon have a key?’

‘I don’t know, WHO IS IT?’

‘It’s me guys’ says a voice from behind the door ‘I forgot the key again!’

‘Jon! I’m coming’ says Martin.

Martin opens the door.

‘Dude, we have some bad…Susan?’

‘Hey kiddo’ says Susan ‘you may have bad news but I on the other hand have some great ones, step aside’

The two newcomers make their way into the room.

‘Hi Jon, hello Susan’ says Rebecca.

‘Ok, before you say anything, I know what’s going on’ Says Jon.

‘You do?’

‘Yeah, I’ve work for companies in the past, whenever they tell you there is no need to come back and then there’s radio silence that always means the same thing’

‘They just called us to tell us…’

‘Oh, so they actually called, well that was them being abnormally kind, usually there is not even a call, any way, basically I knew what was coming and so I made sure to make back ups for everything, so don’t worry, I have all the assets and the data here’

Jon shows them a flashdrive.

‘OH THANK JESUS!’

‘Holy shit dude, you just saved our asses!’

Both Martin and Rebecca jump to embrace their friend.

‘Alright, alright kids, calm down, get your hormones on stand by, there is more’ says Susan ‘ok, so, I just went above and beyond the call of duty to help your friend sneak this stuff from the company, ok? I shouldn’t even be here and much less tell you what I’m about to tell you, but here we go: what’s going on is that the big guys on top are pulling all assets and redirecting them to the new VR division, they bosses want to put out a VR device on the market by next winter to compete with the PSVR, and three launch games for the platform on top of that, and the sad thing is that your game is just not VR material, so they’re pulling the plug on that’

‘Those fuckers!’

‘Yes, and that’s not the end of it, the thing is all of what you developed these last six months? They are the intellectual property of the company’

‘BULLSHIT!’

‘No way, like, that’s not even…I remember specifically I read in the contract…’

‘The contract just gives you ownership of what you developed before you went to work with us, all the work that you did inside our offices is technically ours’

‘But there is a silver lining’ says Jonathan.

‘Yes, look, copyright laws are still kind of iffy when it comes to videogames, on paper there is nothing that says that you can’t copy mechanics, so is not like what you have in the flashdrive is completely useless, now, this for us is just one IP we have in stand by, chances are we are not going back to it on years, so what you have to do now is rework the game, change the IP, give it another identity, a different story and with a little bit of luck the company is not going to bother prosecuting you for it, but you have to make sure you put it out before us, so you get the drop and the recognition first’

‘So that’s it?’

‘That’s the best I can do for you guys, and remember, you heard none of this and less of all from me, ok?’

‘Thank you Susan’

‘Oh, kid, please, is no big deal’

‘But how can you work with these guys?’

‘Ah, well, it’s not like it’s better anywhere else, and hey’ says Susan as she leaves through the door ‘at least I’m not Anthony Burch’

‘…’

‘…’

‘…’

‘Ok, so what now?’ asks Martin.

‘What do you mean ‘what now’? We go back to work on the game’

‘But is not that easy! I mean, fuck the company, is not like they were giving us the greatest computers or the biggest team to work with but one thing they gave us above all else was independence, we had our own rooms, our own schedules, no family, no school, now we have to go back to all that, we have to start thinking about catching up with homework, about applying to colleges, now Jon has to go back to his job…an lets face it, not to diminish what Jon just did here, but those assets are not a complete game and apparently we cant even use half of them anyway!’ Martin gets visibly more and more tense with every word.

‘We’ll think of something, Martin, we’ll come up with something, we have time, remember all those times you hit a snag with the code, or I got blocked and couldn’t think of anything to write? Remember how scared and frustrated we were every time that happened? What did we do then? We took a break, we relaxed, we cleared our head and a few hours later we would come up with a solution, this is no different’

Martin doesn’t seem to relax. Jonathan walks up to him and puts his hands on his shoulders.

‘Hey, it’s ok’ Says Jonathan ‘I’ve been in this type of situation a hundred times and every time I pulled through, this is nothing; we’re going to be ok, ok?’

This time martin does relax, he leans his head against his friend’s.

‘Ok’

‘Ok’

‘Ok’

**WE ARE MAKING A GAME**

**‘** I love you guys, you know that?’

‘We know’

**By Facundo Avila**

‘No homo’

‘Pfffffff, shut up’


	12. Chapter 12

‘So how’s going back to school treating you?’

**FIP industries presents**

‘Could be a lot worse, let me tell you that’

‘Oh, but it is bad then? Just…not as bad as it could be?’

‘Yeah, more or less, apparently everyone found out what we are doing’

**WE ARE MAKING A GAME**

                By all measures it is the room of a teenage girl. Jonathan remembers this room from before it belonged to a teenager. The room hasn’t changed much since then.

                Rebecca is at her chair next to her computer; Jon is laying on the bed like he just had sex on it. They are both clearly comfortable with this.

‘Are they making fun of you? It’s that what’s happening?’ asks Jon, with concern in his voice.

‘No, worse, they love it’

‘Ah, yes, I can see how that would be worse’

‘I’m serious, I don’t like this, I don’t like the attention, the only reason I tolerated hanging out with the girls before this started was because I wasn’t the prettiest or the richest one so I was allowed to fade into the background of popularity…now I’m known for reasons that put me in the center of the spotlight, i…people are trying to give me high fives on the hallways Jon!’

‘I wasn’t being sarcastic, I know how much you don’t like attention, I remember’

‘I was ready to be mocked, you know, from the very beginning, from the first moment I called Martin I knew this would blow up and people would find out, I was ready to throw my status down the toilet, fuck, I was salivating before the prospect, when we made the trip back home from the hotel? I was scared of what dad would say, sure, I was worried about catching up with school, but the idea of people finding out that I, Becky G, I always hated that name by the way, I’m making a videogame? I wanted to see the look on their faces dude’

‘Yes, of course, I can see how someone who hates attention would say something like that’

‘And then it turns out videogames creators are cool now? What the fuck?’

‘People like videogames, people like artists, is not like you’re are the champion of a spelling bee or something, you actually traveled and worked at a company for a while, there is a glamour to that’

‘Oh but it doesn’t end there, I have lost count of the amount of shitty pitches I had to hear this week like, Jesus, no I’m not going to use your shitty ideas for a game, I’m not going to add you to the project as a “creative director” or “ideas guy”, get out of my goddamned face’

‘People like to feel close to a creator’

‘Some dude honestly pitched me the idea of a game where you go inside people’s head’s and deal with, like, metaphors of their psychological issues!’

‘That sounds like a good idea’

‘Well, it’s called Psychonauts, a game that came about, oh I dunno, around 2005, god, I hate it when people who know nothing about this industry come to me trying to give me advice about it’

‘From what Martin tells me that is more or less how you were when you went up to him’

‘You and Martin talk about me behind my back? When?’

‘He’s been inviting me to his house for dinner and stuff, his mother cooks a mean stroganoff’

‘…’

‘What?’

‘Nothing’

‘Ok, well, I don’t know what to tell you, Martin seems to enjoy the attention’

‘No he doesn’t, he hates it’

‘That’s not what he tells me’

‘What does he say?’

‘The same thing you did basically, that he expected to be made fun of, like always, but that instead people like him now, except for the same douchebags from always but they don’t count, but unlike you he actually likes it, he says, and I quote “so this is what being Rebecca felt like all this years” end quote’

‘You can go and tell him that he’s wrong, that was never how it felt like’

‘You can tell him yourself right now, he’s calling me’

‘Oh wow, it’s like the whole bloody mary thing? You say his name however many times and he…?’

‘Hola Martin, what’s up?’

‘…’

‘I’m at Becky’s house right now, we were just talking about you’

‘…’

‘Yeah exactly about that, we were talking about how we decided we wanted to kick you out of the project and run away and make our own company’

‘…’

‘hahahahahaha, yeah, we….we wanted to pffffffff, right, that’

‘Hey’ says Rebecca, interrupting the fit of laughter ‘pass me the phone, there is something I want to talk to him about’

‘Hey, Martin? Rebecca here says she wants to talk to you’

‘…’

‘Ok, here you go’

‘Martin?’

‘Yeah Becca, what’s up?’ says Martin from the phone.

‘So I hear you’ve been making fun of me with Jon behind my back?’

‘What?’

‘Oh, I dunno, something I heard about you telling him about my terrible ideas that I pitched you when we first met’

‘Oh that, yeah, no I told him about how you presented me with the idea of “a game where you jump on platforms…like a…a game about platforming…almost, a platformer if you will”’

Some giggling between the friends is exchanged.

‘Well anyway, what I actually wanted to talk to you about was something I’ve been thinking about that your jesting with Jon made me remember’

‘What is it?’

‘How about if we make a company?’

‘What?’

‘Well, when we actually go ahead and publish this game, we are going to need a company, we are going to need a name, a logo, an identity, you know?’

‘Isn’t that a bit too…?’

‘Ambitious?’

‘I was going to say early’

‘I think it’s just the right time, we’re going to be twiddling out thumbs while we readjust to school and, be real, I don’t think we’re going to manage any real work on the game until the summer break, my dad has a lot of expertise on this kinds of things, we can start at least spit balling a few ideas’

‘I…uh, let me think, Rebecca I’m really no good when it comes to these kinds of things, you were the one who handled dealing with the company and the contract and stuff for a reason, I don’t really know what it takes to make one your own but doesn’t it involve like a shitload of taxes and paperwork and stuff? I just want to make the game’

‘Don’t you worry about that, I can handle that stuff myself, is not like we are going to need a lot more game design or ideas done, all I ask is a little bit of input here and there and your signature and that’s it’

‘What does Jon think about this?’

‘I just found out about it’ says Jon.

‘Ok, and what do you think?’

‘I think…that I have to think a little more about it, I like the idea on principle, I like having an identity as a group that is better defined, it will help us be taken more seriously in the future when we want to actually distribute the game and such, but again, I’d have to think about it a little more’

‘Well’ says Martin ‘I mean, if you are serious about handling the biggest part of the workload on that front then I guess it’s up to you, Rebecca, my only concern is that we get too mired in corporate stuff’

‘Don’t worry about that, is not like I’m going to go running right now to the nearest government building to do a tax declaration, I’m going to go slow, talk about it with my dad, one step at the time, first of all…how are we going to call ourselves?’

‘Mhmmm…something…something serious, like from a serious corporation?’

‘I always wanted to have a ridiculous name that doesn’t mean anything but it seems like it does’

‘We can combine those things, go with a name that sounds like a real company but in closer inspection it don’t make no sense’

‘Something like Blorg Conglomerated, except not that, that’s terrible’

‘Flunk inc.’

‘That’s more like it, except no, not quite that’

‘It can be an acronym, like…G.O.D.W.U.T. industries’

‘Ooooooh, I like the industries bit, with a different acronym…’

‘Shorter’

‘Just three letters, just three letters would be perfect’

 

**WE ARE MAKING A GAME**

‘…’

‘…’

‘…’

**By Facundo Avila**

‘I can’t think of anything right now’


End file.
